Infant diaper changing practices and structures have progressed from the use of a bed to changing tables of the kind contrived by mounting a soft pad over a dresser or other stationary furniture for use at home. There are many households where either there are not enough rooms to set up a separate baby nursery or limited space to set up a separate changing station such as the use of a dresser or other furniture to change the infant's diapers. In those circumstances, it is common practice to use a bed, the floor, carpet, or even the dinner table to change the infant's soiled diapers, compromising hygiene. Thus there is a need in the art for a hygienic and space saving structure specifically dedicated to the infant's diaper changing needs in households with limited space. The present invention provides a space saving changing table that can be installed on either side of a room door to meet the diaper changing needs of a baby and conveniently folded up on its base to lie against the door surface and away from traffic between rooms when not in use.
The need for a means to change infant's diapers when away from home has produced several innovative concepts in portable diaper changing structures such as pads and tables described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,520,010, U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,252, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,397; and portable changing tables of the kind disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,856 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,624. These pads and tables are quite often bulky and take up space in a vehicle in addition to other baby changing and feeding luggage such as diaper bags and accessories, strollers etc., when traveling with a baby to visit family and friends. The present invention provides a space saving changing table that can be stored by family and friends at their residences and easily set up to provide a changing table for a visiting baby.
The critical need for diaper changing tables in public restrooms has seen the advent of wall mounted baby changing tables in those facilities. U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,951, one such earlier granted patent discloses a baby-changing apparatus adapted to be foldably mounted to a vertical support, such as walls and partitions in public restrooms, restaurants, department stores, airports, and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,896 describes a fold up table extending from a room wall and constructed of a hollow rectangular tray capable of supporting a baby while the baby's diaper is being changed. A countertop mountable infant changing station is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,677. A series of patents granted to Helmsderfer, the most recent one described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,426,765 comprises a diaper changing station for mounting on a wall surface.
The infant diaper changing tables described and patented thus far have been configured for wall mounting which involves drilling holes in walls in order to mount these structures. Dismantling and moving these changing tables to another location on the wall or to another room wall would be cumbersome and leave holes in the walls requiring patching up, painting etc. Thus there is a need in the art for a space saving infant changing table that can be conveniently mounted, with minimal damage to the mounting surface and removed for storage when not in use. The present invention fulfills that need by providing a changing table that can be mounted on a door surface by means of a strap or bracket and capable of being positioned to the height of the user by sliding the changing table vertically through the length of the door on the straps.
The present invention fulfills the deficiencies in the prior art for a portable space saving infant changing table for use at home, or when visiting family and friends; for use by baby sitters and grandparents in their own homes; for use in day care facilities, or in public restrooms when traveling with a baby.